FS & Praxis

[bob scheetz]

Matt,
   pardon the lapse in tone, Matt.
...but performative contradiction is rather cardinal for y'all, eh?
Resignation to Power may harmonize easily with a cushy oxonian (or for JH,
superstar) idyl, but what insufferable dissonance to say a Victor Klemperer
trapped by anonymity in kafka-esque cockroach-icity?  and that, and worse,
is the essential dispensation of the species, no?
And while "Totalitarianism" is one emanation, ...isn't bourgeois liberal
"Consumerism" an equally momentous dystopia?  ...isn't marcuse confirmed as
never yet by this latest masterpiece of  "lib western democracy," fictitious
war, on fictitious grounds, for fictitious freedom, by a fictitious prez
with a real military power, propaganda apparatus and intelligence system so
vast and irresistable as gives new meaning to the word, totalitarianism.

As for my personal mythology, ...for sure fatalist, but not yet resigned.
Will-to-Power sits at the core of the being of the species like a law of
nature; but, not alone.  Opposite the hyena there's the giest-structure, the
logos, religion/art, the creator and preserver of the meaning of being.  One
expects his philosophers should be partisan of meaning, and not dazzled by
the cheesey frippery (fake democracy, rights, culture, etc.) into doing
theodicy for bourgeois lib TINA like his social dem 4bears

sorry for the bummer, but you asked for it,
...very hard to shake these days, eh?

bob



----- Original Message -----
From: "matthew piscioneri" <mpiscioneri@hotmail.com>
To: <frankfurt-school@lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 5:04 AM
Subject: Re: FS & Praxis


>
>
> Bob,
>
> Good to hear from you. Have you got any easier questions? I try to get
> through my days these days without having my conscience pricked :-).
>
> I think you have exaggerated the dilemma. H. & A. clearly expressed their
> resistance to the fascist regime of the Nazis. Ran, escaped, fledso would
> have I. Thats all I can say on that one. Habermas is also clear that he
> didnt envisage the FDR State as equivalent to the Nazis. Habermass
> persists in arguing:
>
> 1. the application of crude totalitarian analyses to advanced capitalist
> democratic social systems is inappropriate i.e. big nasty brother does not
> recognize the complexities of contemporary political life in places like
> Germany, U.S etc.
> 2. As for JH counseling accession to victimization I would think that
> nothing would be further from Habermass proactive example as a public
> intellectual. If your emphasis on victimization is replaced by resignation
> then I think there is more of a case to ask of JH. However, what
pragmatist
> isnt resigned?
>
> Is this really as you see it? You have always struck me as resigned to the
> omnipotence of Power.
>
> Regards,
>
> MattP.
>
>
> >From: bob scheetz <rscheetz@cboss.com>
> >Reply-To: frankfurt-school@lists.village.virginia.edu
> >To: frankfurt-school@lists.village.virginia.edu
> >Subject: Re: FS & Praxis
> >Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 20:34:51 -0800
> >
> > >...H.&.A
> > > were by and large hostile to the radical praxis actions of the
students
> >and
> > > other groups ("mindless actionism"), Marcuse far more sympathetic, and
> > > Habermas late-1960s "left-fascism" type of stuff
> >
> >Matt,
> >    Interesting, ...so H & A & Hab counsel accession to
victimization?...by
> >Nazis, Israelis, bushies, etc?
> >...obviously they ran;
> >  so, for everybody, or is negative dialectics just for the poor?
> >
> >bob
> >
>
>
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